Claw
by Eltaco555
Summary: What if Rick and Lori had a child before Carl? Meet Alexandra Grimes, a sixteen year old wannabe archer, care taker, and older sister. When the world turns upside down and she gets bit, changes start, for good or for worst, is for her to decide. What happens when she choses Daryl as a role model. (m for language)
1. Chapter 1

**Claw has some OOC characters so bear with me for the time being. **

You'd never guess that a small family feud could end your world. It started on a Monday night, me and my brother Carl had just gone to bed unwilling for school in the following morning. My mother and father had lots of marital problems and often fought over stupid things but this time things got heated.

"For god sakes Rick could you stay out any later, you might as well be cheating on me." Apparently my father had a late night at work.

"God Lori sometimes it's like all you ever want to do is start a fight." He really wasn't helping his case. Even Carl knew that when mom got in these moods it was best to leave her alone. The bickering continued, it was keeping me up. Frustrated I pulled at my hair and started to get out of bed. There was sniffling coming from Carl's room. Again I sighed, Carl was really a normal 12 year old but when it came to these bicker fest, he cried like a baby. Being three years older than him I was always the one to have to watch him or play with him or protect him, and most of the time I didn't mind. But his tears were the one thing I couldn't handle.

So instead of going in an comforting him, I creped passed his door and down the hall and out the back door. We lived in a big neighborhood in King County, Georgia so there was an abundance of trees. Which on these nights became my best friends. I was just about to climb up my favorite chestnut oak when I heard footsteps trailing behind me. Carl was making his way over towards me wearing nothing but a thin t shirt shorts and slippers.

"Carl go back inside before you catch your death it's January for crying out loud." Carl continued to approach and when he got close enough I could see the tears still in his eyes.

"I can't sleep. I saw you walk past my room, where are you going?"

"Nowhere now go back inside before you get the both of us caught!" angry I climbed higher up in the tree and found the branch where I hid my bow. Mom had said no weapons in the house beside our father's pistol, but she said nothing about the trees outback.

I had wanted to learn how to shoot a bow since I was a child so when I saved up enough money, and begged my father's best friend, Shane, to purchase it for me. Shane had told me as long as no one knows where I got it and I don't hurt anybody he didn't see the harm in me having one.

"Is that a bow?" I jumped so high I almost fell out of the tree. Carl was climbing up the tree and starring straight at my hands.

"No! Carl, stop climbing you're going to fall and break your arm! Go back inside!" I was yelling at this point. Carl had a thing for tattling and I couldn't have him telling on me for this.

"I don't want to they never stop fighting." That sneaky bastard was giving me puppy dog eyes.

"Fine you can stay, but I swear if you tell mom or Dad I'll kick your ass from here to Texas." Carl looked up at me and smiled.

"Agreed, but only if you teach me how to shoot." He grinned smugly. And for the rest of the night this was pretty much how it went. I shot, and then he shot, when we were out of arrows we would climb down and find them. It was actually kind of fun having a shooting partner. When it hit three I noticed he was dozing off against the tree. I pretty much had to carry him down. After successfully getting into the house I put him in his room on his bed. I just shut his door and was about to go to mine when I ran into a wall of flesh. I quickly jumped back and slammed against the wall.

"Alex Grimes, What in the hell do you think you're doing?" There stood my father Rick Grimes, sheriff deputy of King County.

"Nothing sir, just checking in on Carl." I tried to play cool and go for the big concerned sister part, but he saw right threw it.

"Checking in on Carl my ass what were the two of you doing out in the woods." I was at loss, I couldn't think of an excuse.

"We uh we wer-"

"She was taking me into the woods to cool off." neither of us noticed that Carl's door had been open and apparently he was awake. "I could hear you arguing and I got sad, Alex was trying to calm me down it's my fault." I gaped openly at my brother not only had he made a lie but he covered up for me.

Ricks eyes softened. Both of our parents had a soft spot for Carl. Rick because he had always wanted a boy, hence the name Alex, and our mother because he was her baby. When I came it was more of a disappointment than a miracle, to say I was unexpected was an understatement I almost killed my mother. I was too big and for her small frame when she survived the doctors said there was no way she would have another baby. So three years later when Carl was born both of them were ecstatic. I'm not unloved, just unexpected an unfavorited. But Carl was a miracle to me also and I loved him unconditionally.

"Just get to bed you two you still have school in the morning" He griped the bridge of his nose and walked off.

I looked at Carl thankfully and told him goodnight. It felt like as soon as I got into bed my alarm went off, I swear one of these days I would destroy that damn thing. Hurrying to get clothes on while simultaneously pulling my long brown hair into a pony tail. I jogged towards the kitchen. In the kitchen Carl sat eating a bowl of cereal. Ruffling his hair I grabbed my own breakfast and sat down next to him.

"Someone looks tired." I winked. He groaned and kicked my leg.

"How the heck can you be so cheery when you only got was four hours of sleep."

I smirked. "Practice makes perfect, my friend." winking again. I could hear arguing coming from the hall. "Again?" I asked. Carl looked agitated and nodded.

Suddenly our mother burst through the door way. "Rick it's like you don't even care for us anymo-" She stopped when she saw me and Carl sitting at the table. Carl was obviously upset and rushed towards his room. I sat up slowly ready to follow.

"Nice." I muttered before I got to Carl's room. He was sitting on his floor getting his school stuff together.

"Hey, little man, forget what she said she's just angry." He didn't reply just proceeded to pack, get up, and walk outside towards the car. I had just gotten my licenses a couple weeks ago so I grabbed the keys to my beat as hell pickup truck unlock the car. Carl didn't say anything on the drive towards his school. He practically jumped out as soon as the car stopped.

The high school was on the other side of the lot so I parked my car and walked slowly towards hell. High school was pretty much that, hell, let's just say when your dads the sheriff, boys didn't go near you, girls didn't invite you to parties, and popular kids thought you were a prude. So pretty much my only friend was a cousin of Shane's named Matt. My father had gone to Shane saying that I was depressed and never had friends over, Shane being the 'genius' he is, sent his cousin over. It probably was one of the best ideas Shane had, from that day me an Matt became best friends. When we hit high school Matt developed a crush on me, I declined his affection saying it was better if we were friends. Matt was really the only reason I didn't run drop out, on nights that my parents were fighting he would come over and comfort me And other night we would sit up in the tree and shoot my bow. He really was a miracle.

"Yo grimy." jumping about a foot in the air I turned around, perched on the hood of my truck sat Matt.

"God dammit Matt, what did I say about scaring me I nearly had a heart attack." I wanted to throw something at the bastard but was scared it would hit my car. Right as he was about to speak the bell rang. "Now look what you've done I'm going to be late." I practically ran to my English class making it just in time for the late bell.

The rest of the day pretty much went the same; by the time the last bell rang I was ready to jump out of my skin. Something felt weird, not only weird I had the strongest urge to just sit in the corner and cry. I tried my hardest to ignore these feelings and shuffled towards my locker. Just like every day Matt was standing there, except this time instead of his smiling face there was a grim one.

"What's wrong?" Worry was evident in my voice, he didn't reply. Deciding to let it go we walk towards my car. I noticed two things wrong with this picture. One Shane was standing next to my car; the other was the pools of water that were forming in his eyes. Never in my life had I seen this man cry.

"Hey...Shane, what's going on?" The look on his face was unbearable, I knew in a instant what happened. Shane worked on the force with my father, and the only reason I could think of for why Shane was here broke my heart. " Is... Is he alive?" Shane looked even worse.

"He's in a coma. He was shot in the side. It's all my fault there were only suppose to be two people, no one saw the third. I'm sorry." I could barley stand. Tears were streaming down my cheeks.

"Dose my mother knows." Shane's face scrunched up and he nodded slowly.

"She's at the hospital. She asked me to get the both of you." The middle school bell rang, I was griped with fear.

"How do I tell Carl? How do I tell him that our father is in a coma?" Matt was pretty much holding me up by then. And I couldn't let that happen. I needed to be strong for Carl's sake. Straightened myself up and pulled away from Matt. "I want you to go back to the hospital. I need to be alone with Carl." Shane looked reluctant but nodded anyway and walked to his cruiser. "Matt you too. I just need some time with him." wearing the same expression as Shane he walked away.

The walk to the middle school felt never ending. I got there in enough time to see Carl jump down the steps. He spotted me and waved. I couldn't muster the energy for even a smile, when he got close enough he noted the look on my face. I think he came to the same conclusion as me, tears started to pour and I scoped him into a bear hug. "He's alive, he got shot but he's alive." Carl was sobbing loudly I was scared he was going to puke. I picked up his sobbing form and loaded him into my truck, with tears in my own eyes I drove to the hospital.

To say the next few days were chaotic to say the least. In between constant visit to dad and practically taking full responsibility for me and Carl, I barely had time to breath. Our mother was never home, Shane wasn't around, Matt hadn't talked to me since Monday, it felt as if the only one I could depend on was Carl, who never stopped crying. The day I thought nothing worse could happen, this was the day the dead started to rise

The newscaster said it was some sort of virus that was causing the dead to rise. It had been 24 hours since there report and still no one evacuated. Everyone thought it was a joke and kept on with their lives. After about 36 hours passed that's when shit went down. Apparently people had been at the park when out of nowhere a blood covered man wandered out of the woods. The cops had been called and people were trying to see if he was ok, until out of nowhere he started to bite. People finally got the idea packed there shit and left. My family was one of the last. The first thing I remember was Shane charging into my room and screaming at me to pack my bags then rushing to Carl's room. I did what Shane asked in a hurry, and threw my bag out of my room.

"Shane? Carl?" the house was empty and quiet. Not a noise was heard. At first I thought they might have left me in an effort to get rid of me. That was until I looked outside. In my front yard were ten or more men and women, except they didn't look normal, each was dripping in blood and some had no arms. I went to scream but a hand came up behind me to blocking my mouth.

"Shhh.. Don't let them see you." I practically cried when I heard Shane's voice. "Your mothers packed and in the car. Now I want you to slowly edge away from the window, and walk towards the garage. Ok sweetie?" I nodded weakly and turned around. Carl sat asleep on Shane's shoulder. Shane also was cover in guns, from the pistol in his holster to the shot gun strapped to his back. Weapons, he had thought to bring weapons. Suddenly I remembered the only weapon I posed. Darting behind Shane I ran for the yard hearing his protest. The tree almost looked sick. Running as fast as I could I grabbed the first low hanging branch and hoisted myself up. My hands and knees were getting cut to hell, and it hurt like a mother fucker. When I finally got to the notch in the tree I swung the bow and quiver around my back. Pacing myself I scrambled back down, in my haste I didn't watch my footing, quickly my body fell from the tree and smacked on the ground. When I was about to get up I heard moaning.

From what I could tell nothing was broken. But the moaning and groaning I heard was not coming from me. Against my body's protest I shot up on my knees. There not six feet away was a bent over, disfigured man chewing at the bloodied carcass of a dog. The man most had heard my gasp because his head shot up starring straight into my eyes. I didn't even have time to blink before the thing was on me squirming and snapping at anything in its sites, that's when I noticed the smell. I almost fainted it was so wretched; I could only describe It as death. I continue to battle with the monster trying for dear life to keeps its filthy teeth off of me. But my struggles were in vain. His teeth came down searching for my neck. Desperately trying not to let him bite me I shoved my hand into his face and pushed, a sudden pain came over me, looking up I saw that about three quarters of my middle finger was dangling in-between his open jaw. I screamed lashing out with everything. Through the pain induced haze I heard a faint rustling, it was like everything was in slow motion, one moment I was about to die but the hands of a flesh eater, and the next there was a arrow protruding from his head. The arrow went all the way through his skull and stopped about a millimeter from my face.

Warm goop pooled from the hole as I struggled to free myself from his form iron hold. He was suddenly thrown from my body. And I came face to face with a cross bow. Standing in front of me was a six maybe six and a half foot tall man with greasy brown hair and glaring ice blue eyes. He had squirrels hanging on his shirt and a hunting bag full of birds.

Shoving the crossbow closer to my face he leaned in and whispered. "You been bit kid?" The man had a country accent and looked like he would slit my throat in a moment's notice so I lied.

"n-no s-sir!" I practically whimpered over the pain.

"Look here, little bitch, I know you lying show me the bite before I leave you for dead." I whimpered again and picked up my hand slowly. He grabbed it in a flash inspecting the wound.

"Shit, this Is an easy fix. You're lucky the little fucker didn't bite you anywhere else." Slowly he brought up his large hunting knife. I tried not to scream an trash but when the man brought it down across my finger the pain became too much. I could hear him yelling at me to shut up, when I felt a clash to the side of my head and everything went black.

**Hey welcome to my story. I'm new to fanfiction so please no hate; I also need a beta so if anyone is interested pm me please. Daryl might be a little OOC for a while so please stick with it thanks for reading. (I do not own walking dead)**


	2. Chapter 2

**(I don't own walking dead) ok sorry that its shorter guys, I didn't have a lot of time for this chapter and I wanted to make sure it was out before Friday. Please review and thanks to deans dirty little secret for the fav. also a thanks to my first reviewer sarabear91. tell me if you guys like this or if I should give it up. **

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the absents of my alarm clock. Then I felt the hard floor under. My eyes shot open with a snap, bright light flooded in my vision. I slowly brought my hands up to rub the sleep out of my eyes, when they finally focused I saw a gruesome scene, my middle finger was nothing but a bloodied nub with a ripped up shirt wrapped around it. That's when the memories came flooding back. Slamming my head back with a groan I noticed I was laying on something squishy. Closing my eyes in fear I reached back and wrapped my hand around my 'pillow'. It was slimy and felt like flesh, I slowly raised my head and turned towards it. Their laying directly behind me was the dead caress of the man who bit of my finger. I jumped up with a start but quickly fell back over when I realized my legs were weak. That's when I heard a deranged laugh.

"You know I was a bit surprised when I found out that you cuddle with dead things in your sleep." the voice laughed from behind me. Quicker than I thought possible I was up on my feet searching for my bow. "Looking for this kid?" my bow suddenly dropped from the air. I snapped my head up towards the voice while simultaneously grabbing my bow. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. I bet I'm a lot better shot than you are." the man laughed while raising his crossbow. "We'll you're up and moving so I'd say I stopped the infection from spreading. Had to cut off the rest of that finger. Be glad it wasn't you hand." he laughed again and lowered his bow. "Whelp, now that your awake I'll be on my way." he dropped from the tree landing on the balls of his feet, slung his bow onto his back and started to walk away.

"Wait! Who are you? Did you save me? Where are you going?" I rambled scurrying after him.

"My name Daryl, yes, I'm hunting, as you can see. You better go find your family or a place to hide, cause if you don't that finger will be the least of your worries." he said, not turning to look at me.

I suddenly thought of my family. The already left. Knowing Shane, he would stick around, not even for me. And if they didn't stay for me chances are they didn't stay for dad either. Worry rushed through me. I had to go make sure he was ok. I couldn't leave without saying goodbye or seeing if he was alive. Sighing I picked up my bow and shot one last look at Daryl and yelled "thank you." while walking away. Daryl seemed to have heard me an shot back a weary your welcome.

I was walking back toward my house when I heard the footsteps. "Hey kid, where in the hell are you going? I just saved your life and you're going to walk into a city, that's where the worst of them are." I heard Daryl yell.

"My dad is in a coma in the hospital. I think my mother left him there, like she left me, I'm going to take care of him." Daryl made a scoffing sound.

"Sorry kid but I don't think dads going to be there. There are walkers all around the city; he's either dead or a walking meat stick." I didn't stop walking, without warning he grabbed my arm causing me to fall. My body was so weak from the blood loss that when I tried to get up I fell again. "Look kid, you've been asleep for hours, lost a shit load of blood, and are missing a finger. Me and my brother live with this group of survives, I'll take you to them." Daryl seemed like he actually cared. I shook my head again.

"I need to check on my dad. You go ahead." Daryl got an angry look on his face and grabbed my arm again.

"I'm trying to do a good thing you dumb bitch, stop being stubborn, if you go out there you die." he yelled

"My mother left me, my brother left me, and so did my father. You might want to do it too." I whispered. "They didn't even look for me. They didn't care enough to even see if I was alive! They don't care. So why should you."

"I don't care. But what kind of person would I be if I let a dumb ass punk girl, run around and get eaten. Look if they don't care for you than you shouldn't care for them. Right? Come with me to the camp." I guess he was right. If they don't care about me why should I care about them? They never cared about me it was always for Carl. These new realization angered me in every way possible. None of them even bothered to look for me. Do they even care? If they don't care about me, then I don't care about them. I would have looked for them. They thought I was weak. I was going to make sure I was never weak again.

"On one condition." Even I flinched at the anger in my voice. "Teach me how to shoot. You said yourself that I was probably a lousy shot, so teach me to be better." Daryl gave me a weary look but nodded anyway. Turning on his feet he started walking deeper into the woods. Still to dizzy to run, I walked after him at a turtles pace.


End file.
